Trapping bobcats

BornToHunt,

There are many different sets depending on each situation. If you are planning on using leghold traps, simple flat sets can be very effective. This is simply a trap set in a known area of activity with some sort of backing(small branch, cow pie, etc...) with bobcat urine placed on the backing. A visual attractant can also be used such as a bird wing or feather hung from a tree limb near the trap set. Box traps can also be very effective. During goose season I will often place a goose carcass in them and scatter feathers around the immediate area of the trap. Set them near brush piles and cover them with some brush or grass to break up the outline. Fresh skinned carcasses of muskrat, beaver, coons and possums can also be effective baits. Snares are also very effective but must be used with great care and would require real effort on your part to learn to use them safely and effectively.
Also the Trapper and Predator Caller magazine and Fur Fish and Game are very good sources of information on all kinds of trapping.
Good Luck!!
 
Sardines are good, easy bait. I've caught just about everything using sardines. You can also buy bobcat gland lures and urine that work well. Dirt holes work well. A feather or some some similar hanging from a thread above the trap works also is a sure cat attractant. They can't resist investigating a feather blowing in the breeze. Once there they will check out the bait.
 
Yellowhammer, shoot me an e-mail if you get time, I'd like to talk to you one on one about a few things not regarding trapping.

jim@championtannery.com
 
Cats hunt by sight. Up here The feather or wing is the best means to get a cat to your set. Another is a cd or pie plate. Just don't hang it to high off of the ground. I try to keep it around two feet off of the ground

I have had the best luck with cubbies and snow holes for catching them. I don't get a chance to trap on bare ground up here.

I like to use beaver for bait at my sets. If I don't have beaver I will do as Yellowhammer does, go with the sardines.
 
I like to use flagging over a cubby set with nothing but a 50/50 mix of cat & red fox urine sprayed behind the trap. The sardines will guarantee me a good catch of skunks & 'possums here in Texas.

Take care and God Bless,

Rusty
 
Rusty is right about the oppossum. Nothing ruins a good set like they do since they are not worth anything even when fur prices are high. Cats are sight hunters so something that will catch their eye is real good, as are the gland lures and urine. A bird feather hanging above the trap is hard to beat.
 
We don't have many cats and I would like to catch one to mount. I know where one works in the late fall and winter, will he be there in the fall during trapping season? Also, would you start a small preseason bait to get him to start coming in? I would assume that the 1.75 coils that I use for coyote will hold the cat....stake or drag?
 
I have caught one using a 1.5 coil I had set for coon. I personally like stakes better than drags. Cats don't seem to fight a trap like a coyote or coon.
 
watch out for them cats if you chek your traps at the end of the day i almost stepped on one he wasnt even fighting the trap but when i got close he jumped at me good thing i fell back or i would had her teeth sunk into me she was an old cat i trapped her hanging the spine of a cougar killed deer on an overhanging branch on a trail way up in the woods she got out the first time i trapped her but i used a smaller trap and got her. hope this helped.
 


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